Raw Vegetable Diet

The raw vegetable diet has been around since the beginning of time. Our ancestors existed solely on raw plant foods at one point in our past. More recently, raw foods gained prominence in California during the 1900’s.

Virtanen to Kenton

In the early 1900’s Artturi Virtanen was one of the first scientists to recognize that raw foods contained enzymes that were healthy. He wrote a book based on this discovery which stated that these enzymes ‘burst’ open in your body when you consume raw foods. Virtanen correctly postulated that the released enzymes aided in the digestive process.

Almost a century later, in 1984, Leslie Kenton further popularized the raw food movement with her book about the raw vegetable diet, Raw Energy – Eat Your Way to Radiant Health.

Kenton’s book is considered to be the driving force behind the popularity of the current raw food diet popularity. It contains research into the reasons the diet is healthy and suggestions of raw foods. She advocates that a raw diet include 75 % raw foods. She promoted foods like sprouts, nuts, juices, seeds, and colorful vegetables.

Raw Food Facts

Since the introduction of the raw vegetable diet many studies have been undertaken to investigate the health benefits of eating raw foods. The most important findings backs up Virtanen’s theory that digestive enzymes are found in raw foods.

Once food is cooked the nutritional value is destroyed. On the other hand, raw foods contain a specific enzyme that helps break foods down, aid in food absorption, and help flush toxins from your body. These enzymes include amylases and proteases that regulate your metabolism.

The raw vegetable diet populates your digestive system with living bacteria that keep your immune system healthy. This is commonly termed ‘gut flora’. In addition to healthy bacteria it is believed that your wellbeing will benefit from being exposed to harmful bacteria and parasites. This exposure will help your body become immune to the negative effects of these organisms.

Raw foodists claim that foods harvested from their natural habitat are more beneficial than foods harvested on farms or by other methods. The nutrients in foods grown in the wild vastly outnumber those found in mass harvested raw foods.

No Cooking Allowed

Cooking foods can develop harmful and poisonous toxins. Different foods and preparation methods can make food harmful when consumed. By eating these same foods in their raw state you are at less risk of these toxins.

Raw foods are full of antioxidants. Antioxidants have been in the news lately due their youth giving properties. A raw vegetable diet is full of these substances that will make you look and feel younger.

Cooking food can even lead to acidosis. This is a harmful physical situation that occurs when the body develops too much acid. A sustained high level of acid in your body leads to chronic illness and disease. Arthritis, depression, migraines, canker sores, sinus problems, gastritis, constipation, and stomach aches are a few of the health conditions that result from too much acid in the body.

Acidosis can even lead to an increased chance of cancer. Cancer cells thrive in an environment that is very acidic. Acidosis is one such milieu. Raw foods can help balance the acid in your body and create an environment less likely to allow cancer cells to replicate.

The Way We Were

The raw vegetable diet has been around for thousands of years. Many followers claim our bodies are healthier on this diet because it is the way we were designed to eat. Scientific studies continue to be done and new health benefits will come to light in the near future. Don’t wait until your body has been ravaged by illness or you feel unhealthy. Begin a diet high in raw foods today!